Swansboro's Nigh to pitch for Queens

Swansboro pitcher Katelyn Nigh, shown here warming up before a game this past season, signed Wednesday to play softball for Queens University of Charlotte.

Rick Scoppe/The Daily News

By Rick Scoppe-Sports Editor/The Daily News

Published: Thursday, November 14, 2013 at 10:30 AM.

Katelyn Nigh’s dream is coming true.

Swansboro High School’s senior pitcher had long dreamed of playing college softball, and she’ll get the chance to toe the pitching rubber in the next level on a scholarship after signing Wednesday with Queens University of Charlotte.

“I always dreamed of it,” Nigh said in a telephone interview. “I love the coaches, I love the team, I just love everything about it. When I stepped on campus it felt like home. Queens just felt perfect.”

Nigh, who was 9-11 with a 2.71 earned run average and 92 strikeouts this past season as a junior, had considered a number of schools, including Agnes Scott in Decatur, Ga., and Meredith in Raleigh.

“I didn’t want to go to a big school because of classroom sizes,” said Nigh, who was a second-team all-area selection by The Daily News in 2013. “I wanted to get to know my professors. I just didn’t want to go to a big environment, and Queens is very small.”

Queens coaches first started recruiting Nigh after she went to a softball camp, although she also drew college recruiters’ attention while playing travel ball for the N.C. Challengers and an 18U team.

At Swansboro, however, Nigh had to bide her time behind star pitcher Jaimee Radel, who was The Daily News player of the year in 2011 and 2012. While that meant Nigh played right field, she said she never got frustrated because she knew playing travel ball would get her noticed by college coaches.

“Travel ball really helped with that. High school ball, I never really saw any college coaches (recruiting players). So I wasn’t too worried about when Jaimee was pitching. I just played where I needed to be,” Nigh said. “I planned to go to college, but going into this process I never thought I was going to Queens.”

Nigh said she didn’t know all that much about Queens, although she had heard about it because two former Swansboro soccer players, Brenna Kate Grass and Julianna Tucker, are playing soccer for the NCAA Division II school.

And being five hours from home wasn’t a big deal, she said, noting she considered schools as far away as Florida.

“That was one thing that really didn’t bother me,” she said.

The 17-year-old Nigh said she planned on majoring in elementary education and hopes to one day teach. Toward that end, she said that three of her four classes her senior year are internships at two area elementary schools.

Nigh said she’s scheduled to head to Queens in August. Asked if her college coach gave her anything to work on in preparation for her freshman year at Queens, Nigh said: “Just really to stay fit, pretty much keep working on pitching, don’t take breaks, keep improving, keep finding things to work on.”

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Swansboro High School’s senior pitcher had long dreamed of playing college softball, and she’ll get the chance to toe the pitching rubber in the next level on a scholarship after signing Wednesday with Queens University of Charlotte.

“I always dreamed of it,” Nigh said in a telephone interview. “I love the coaches, I love the team, I just love everything about it. When I stepped on campus it felt like home. Queens just felt perfect.”

Nigh, who was 9-11 with a 2.71 earned run average and 92 strikeouts this past season as a junior, had considered a number of schools, including Agnes Scott in Decatur, Ga., and Meredith in Raleigh.

“I didn’t want to go to a big school because of classroom sizes,” said Nigh, who was a second-team all-area selection by The Daily News in 2013. “I wanted to get to know my professors. I just didn’t want to go to a big environment, and Queens is very small.”

Queens coaches first started recruiting Nigh after she went to a softball camp, although she also drew college recruiters’ attention while playing travel ball for the N.C. Challengers and an 18U team.

At Swansboro, however, Nigh had to bide her time behind star pitcher Jaimee Radel, who was The Daily News player of the year in 2011 and 2012. While that meant Nigh played right field, she said she never got frustrated because she knew playing travel ball would get her noticed by college coaches.

“Travel ball really helped with that. High school ball, I never really saw any college coaches (recruiting players). So I wasn’t too worried about when Jaimee was pitching. I just played where I needed to be,” Nigh said. “I planned to go to college, but going into this process I never thought I was going to Queens.”

Nigh said she didn’t know all that much about Queens, although she had heard about it because two former Swansboro soccer players, Brenna Kate Grass and Julianna Tucker, are playing soccer for the NCAA Division II school.

And being five hours from home wasn’t a big deal, she said, noting she considered schools as far away as Florida.

“That was one thing that really didn’t bother me,” she said.

The 17-year-old Nigh said she planned on majoring in elementary education and hopes to one day teach. Toward that end, she said that three of her four classes her senior year are internships at two area elementary schools.

Nigh said she’s scheduled to head to Queens in August. Asked if her college coach gave her anything to work on in preparation for her freshman year at Queens, Nigh said: “Just really to stay fit, pretty much keep working on pitching, don’t take breaks, keep improving, keep finding things to work on.”